Sopot is the most famous flying site in Bulgaria. This little town is situated at the southern foot of Stara Planina, the longest Balkan mountain chain. Its length 560 km and it crosses Bulgaria from the western border to the Black sea.

Event info

Joint National Championships of Bulgaria and Poland. The competition will be in Sopot (Bulgaria) from 11 to 17 August 2018.

Flying site

Sopot is the most famous flying site in Bulgaria. This little town is situated at the southern foot of Stara Planina, the longest Balkan mountain chain. Its length 560 km and it crosses Bulgaria from the western border to the Black sea. Sopot is in the middle. There is a great valley, called the valley of Roses, next to the mountain chain to fly various tasks. To get to the main take-off is very easy. The cable lift takes you from the landing zone up to the 850 m height, where you can practice thermalling, aerobatics or just go out for XC flights. Other take-offs are easy to reach too. Besides there is plenty of space for landing in the valleys. All this makes Sopot a very attractive place for the XC fans. Also there is another advantage of local people's friendly attitude to the paragliders. They are always ready to give a helping hand.

Flying conditionsSopot flying conditions are excellent in summer, with wide and powerful thermal triggers of 5-6 m/s. The high season for XC flights lasts from April to September but even in low season it’s possible to make good flights of up to 50km and more. During the day the thermals are normally usable between 11 am to 6 pm. On sunny winter days (very common for Sopot), there are inversions and the air is rather stable which is good for beginners. But it may be very unstable with cumulo nimbuses, during the second half of May and occasionally in June and July. Luckily they're not so fast developing like in the Alps and you can escape them by zig-zag flying or go to the valley if they are rather tough. The major part of the Rose valley has got a local light east wind which being combined with a main west wind is perfect for out-and-return flights and makes it possible to set very interesting competition tasks.

RoutesMain task routes are set either to the East or to the West along Stara Planina chain, but there are tasks set to the valley as well. The good day allows to set 100 km there-and-back or triangle tasks. The best main Sopot take-off record was a 207 km flight made by Nikolay Yotov to the town of Sredets. Also Nikolay has made a 201 km flight from Voiniagovo take-off in Sopot area to Gorno Yabalkovo.

Main take-offMain Sopot take off is really large and spacious and can host up to 150 pilots and stuff. It is located on a grass mountain rib at 850 meters height. Pilots, viewers and stuff are able to get there easily using an chair-lift. It works from 9.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. (4.00 p.m. in winter). A one way ticket costs €2.5 but It is required at least 8 people to rise 20€ to turn on the lift.The slope is steep enough and clean from stones and bushes for an easy launch. Top landing is possible in case when it’s required.The area has got East - South - West exposures. In the course of a normal day you may expect E-SE wind in the morning, South wind at noon and S-SW wind in the afternoon.Take off and start zones are surrounded by plenty of thermal triggers.

Selection and entry fee

Selection for this competition will have 2 stages: First stage is filling of the reserved spots for Bulgarian Nationals (25 spots), Polish Nationals (80 spots) and International pilots (35 spots). Second stage is free entry stage - all free spots from the previous stage will be available on "first paid - first served" basis. International pilot spots will be ordered by the pilot's WPRS ranking for 1 May 2018. Deadline for confirmation for all stage 1 spots will be 24 May 2018. No entry fee should be paid if your status is not "Waiting for payment"!

You must transfer 140 Euro for each pilot. All bank fees must be covered by you. You must confirm your payment with picture/print of the SWIFT document and you must specify the names of the pilots you are paying for!

PayPal details:

Send the payment to email expetka@abv.bgThe amount you must send is 145.25 Euro (5.25 Euro is the estimated PayPal fee by the current fee policy valid from April 2018)

Prize fund and scoring categories

There will be no money prize fund. Material prizes from some of our sponsors will be awarded. Polish Aeroclub may award additionally their members.

Scoring categories will be:Bulgarian NationalPolish National (Overall, Female, Team and Sports Class)FemaleOverall

Daily schedule

Typical daily schedule is:

11:00 - 13:00 Transport to the take-off13:00 - Daily briefing13:00 - 18:00 Competition flying18:00 - 19:00 Tracklogs are sent to the scorer or downloaded in the HQ19:30 - Provisional results are published

Accommodation and Activities

ACCOMMODATION:In Sopot there are many guest houses and private rooms. Typical price is 5 - 8 EUR per person. Hotel at the center of the town.

ACTIVITIES:There are a few swimming pools in the area. You probably won't need more activities, since in August the weather is perfect and we should be flying on all competition days.

How to get here

Borkou, Chad Sopot BG

Plane

Sofia International Airport - regular flights to many destinations. You can easily arrive to the city center from Sofia Airport.There is a underground station at the airport. That is the most convinient way to get to the center or to the Bus/Train station.After you pass imigration and custom control you exit from the Arrival Hall and enter the public area of the airport. Turn left and walk to the far east end of the the terminal and there you will see the signs for the metro (underground) station. This is the last station so you have only one option (Metro line 2).To get to the Train/Bus station you have to transfer to Metro line 1 at Serdica station. Tickets are sold in the station and the price is 1BGN ( if you have a big bag - like a paraglider, you have to buy 1 more ticket for the luggage).The journey time to the Train/Bus station is around 30min

Bus

You may as well come to Sopot by bus directly from Sofia or take a bus to reach Sopot from Karlovo if you come from this direction. In Sofia you have 2 bus stations: Central Bus Station and Serdika bus station in front of Sofia Central Railway Station.

From Sofia to SopotFrom Serdika bus station in front of Sofia Central Railway Station there is a bus to Karlovo/Sopot leaving at 12:00 and arriving to Sopot at 14:35 Web site: http://www.union-ivkoni.comTel: +359(2)989-0000 Tel: +359(2)989-1111

There is a bus leaving Sofia at 14:30/16:30 on Sunday.Web site: www.kastelexport.comTel: +359(335)99144

Check Central Bus Station (near Central Railway Station) for buses to Kazanlak. Some of them go via Karlovo, some take the highway to Plovdiv and go via Banya (10 km from Karlovo). There are buses every hour from Banya to Karlovo.

From Sofia Central Bus Station you can take a bus to Plovdiv (60 km from Sopot/Karlovo).

Car

Travelling hint to those who travel to Sopot by car:Don't confuse Sopot town near Karlovo (south of Stara planina mountains on the road Sofia-Burgas) with Sopot village on the main road Sofia-Varna (north of Stara planina mountains).

Taxi

From Sofia Airport to SopotFrom the airport you can take a taxi directly to Sopot or to the Central Railway Station or the Central Bus Station. At the arrival hall look for the office of "OK super trance" taxi service. When you exit terminal 1 or 2 you will have the official taxi parking to "OK super trance" to your right. The trip to Central Railway Station costs about 6 euro during the day and about 8 euro during the night. Sopot airport taxi serviceTaxi Service: "OK super trance"Tel: +359(2)973-2121Web site: http://www.oktaxi.net/cgi-bin/oktaxi.pl?code=main&lang=en

Publish your event page in a special format designed to cover all organizer’s needs. Enjoy administrative tools and promotional features! Live track your event using pilots’ smartphones, GSM and satellite trackers.